Round-the-Clock Purple and Gold

Jerry Buss on Lakers' coaching search: "I would say very close."

Lakers owner Jerry Buss declined to provide a definitive timetable on hiring a replacement for Phil Jackson as the Lakers coach, but he said the organization is "very close" to finalizing its search.

"I don’t know exactly when but a week is a long time," Buss said in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday with Michael Eaves and Bonnie-Jill Laflin on Playboy Radio on Sirius/XM Radio. "I should say that."

Buss and executives Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak met last Tuesday to draw up an official list, but The Times' Mike Bresnahan and Broderick Turnerhave reported it's possible interviews with candidates might not happen until the first week of June. The possibilities, Bresnahan and Turner and other media outlets have reported, include Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy, Brian Shaw, Chuck Person and Mike Brown.

Meanwhile, players including Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton have publicly advocated for Shaw to get the position, arguing his familiarity with the personnel as a Lakers assistant coach and willingness to directly and constructively criticize players will help ease the transition period in the post-Jackson era.

Buss didn't talk about any candidates specifically, but he made it clear he wouldn't consult any players about whom to hire as the next coach.

"Obviously, we have to select somebody who has a reputation that players would be happy with," Buss said. "But to ask a direct player to select a particular coach, that’s general manager territory. That’s out of the player domain."